


Distance

by GretchenSinister



Category: Rise of the Guardians (2012)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-18
Updated: 2019-02-18
Packaged: 2019-10-30 17:13:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17832749
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GretchenSinister/pseuds/GretchenSinister
Summary: Original Prompt: "http://images.wikia.com/riseoftheguardians/images/3/35/Jack_Frost_on_statue.jpgOkay, I’m obsessed with that bloody statue. It’s of a man and a woman, presumably husband and wife, and a little girl crying and burying her face. So what if the girl’s hair is way longer than Jack’s sister’s was, maybe the statue was made a few years later and she grew her hair out?Anyway prompt: that statue is of Jack’s family. Maybe they were the first settlers or something, I’m not picky. Jack never realised until after the movie happened; then he recognised his parents’ faces.But Jack doesn’t completely break down over the revelation, at least not right on the spot. He’s seen the statue a hundred thousand times before, and while it’d be a hell of a shock, he hadn’t even known he’d had parents until fairly recently, and he probably wouldn’t have been able to describe their faces if the statue wasn’t there to jog his newly aquired memory...[cut for length]"Jack’s been spending a lot of time looking at the statue in Burgess. Tooth goes to talk to him about it, and the real family he’s now discovered he’s part of.





	Distance

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on Tumblr 4/18/2014.

Tooth finds Jack where her fairies told her he’d be, perched on the roof of one of the buildings surrounding Burgess’s town square. When she sees him, she’s not surprised that her fairies had made this sound so urgent. Jack may not have been a Guardian long, but from what she and the others know of him so far, it’s unusual to see him in Burgess, but not in the company of his believers. It’s also unusual to see him so very, very still.  
  
“Jack?” she asks, once she’s close enough to not have to shout. To her relief, he looks over and smiles at her when he hears her voice.   
  
“Hey, Tooth. What’s going on?”  
  
She shrugs, and lands next to him. “The fairies said you were acting a little odd. I didn’t mind having the excuse to come find you.”  
  
Jack folds his arms on his knees. “Acting odd? Yeah, I suppose. Or maybe not acting.” He points toward the square and Tooth looks out to see what he’s pointing at. “You see that statue?”  
  
She nods.  
  
“When I had a couple minutes to look at it after I got my memories back, I realized—those are meant to be my parents and sister. I mean, they don’t look that much like they do in my memories, since there weren’t any photographs of them, but with what I do remember and the plaque underneath—well, it’s definitely them.”  
  
“Does staying out here help you remember them?”  
  
Jack grimaces. “Actually, no. And it should, shouldn’t it? That’s why I’ve been spending so much time here. I know I should feel  _something_ , shouldn’t I? But this statue—I don’t know, it’s just—not  _really_  them. And even the plaque doesn’t talk about anything really specific. But how…how can I look at my own family and see someone else’s history instead of my own memory?”  
  
Tooth sighs. “Jack, the tooth boxes were never meant to be used in the way you needed yours. They’re meant to remind a person of what’s important to them, what’s at their core. They’re not for restoring a life’s worth of memories.”  
  
“So I did  _that_  wrong too?”  
  
“No! Jack, I’m trying to tell you that your tooth box worked like it was supposed to. It helped you realize that you were really a Guardian. If your memories of your human life still seem hazier than the other memories you’ve gained since you became Jack Frost—that’s not a bad thing.” She places her hand on his arm.   
  
“But shouldn’t I…shouldn’t I be mourning them more? They were my family. Does being the Guardian of Fun  _prevent_  that? Am I heartless?”  
  
Tooth turns his face so he’s looking at her. “You’re not heartless, Jack. Everyone who knows you can tell you that. Surely you mourned others, over three hundred years?”  
  
Jack nods. “But to find my family after wanting one for so long and now to still feel so distant from them…”  
  
“I don’t think you feel distant from the family you found,” Tooth says, squeezing his hand. “And we don’t feel distant from you, either.”


End file.
